First Glance
by glitterstar7
Summary: A short story on the day that Jack and Rose first see each other and their thoughts, before meeting later that night on the stern.
1. Chapter 1

First Glance

April 12, 1912

Rose Dewitt-Bukator, along with her fiancé and mother, were inside preparing to have lunch at the Palm Court Restaurant. They were dining with J. Bruce Ismay, Margaret "Molly" Brown, and Thomas Andrews.

Ismay was bragging about the ship saying "She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man in all of history. And our master shipbuilder, Mr. Andrews, here designed her from the keel plates up."

Mr. Andrews said humbly, "Oh, I may have knocked her together, but the idea was Mr. Ismay's. He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale, and so luxurious in its appointments that its supremacy could never be challenged. " To emphasize his point, he smacked the tabled and said, "And here she is… willed into solid reality."

Rose was beginning to feel bored so she reached into her bag and lit a cigarette in front of everyone at the table. Her mother, Ruth, was not pleased seeing this.

Ruth leaned over and quietly said in a stern voice, "You know I don't like that Rose." Rose, not really caring about her mother's opinion, blew the smoke right into Ruth's face out of spite.

Rose was about to take another drag of her cigarette, when Cal quickly grabbed the cigarette and snubbed it out on a napkin sternly replying "She knows."

The waiter was coming around taking the lunch orders and had begun to take Cal's order. Cal quickly said, "We'll both have the lamb. Rare with very little mint sauce." Cal then turned his head to Rose and said, "You like lamb, right, sweet pea?"

Rose was fuming; she hated when Cal ordered her meals for her like she was a small child. But she turned towards him, gave a little nod, and gave him one of her fake smiles. She really wanted to say something to Cal, but she was in public and had to play the loving fiancé.

Molly Brown could feel the tension between the young couple and decided to crack a joke. She said to the young millionaire, "You going to cut her meat for her too there, Cal?"

Not getting a response, Molly quickly changed the subject and said, "Hey, who thought of the name Titanic." With a knowing glance towards Ismay she said, "Was it you Bruce?"

With pride, Mr. Ismay said, "Yes actually. I wanted to convey sheer size. And size means stability, luxury, and above all strength. "

Rose, having had enough of the man's pompous attitude, decided to contribute something to the conversation. She said, "Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ismay? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you."

Molly Brown was amazed at the veiled insult and had to shake her head….Rose sure had some spunk! Thomas Andrews immediately got the insult, and was trying to contain his laughter.

Ruth was shocked and leaned over to her daughter and said, "What's gotten into you?!" Rose was already frustrated and had enough. She removed her napkin and quickly stood up and excused herself from the table.

Ruth, trying to save face, quickly replied, "I do apologize." Molly Brown felt bad for the poor girl and turned to Cal and said, "She's a pistol, Cal. I hope you can handle her."

Cal quickly replied, "Well I may have to start minding what she reads from now on, won't I, Mrs. Brown?"

Mr. Ismay still didn't get the insult and asked, "Freud, who is he? Is he a passenger?"

Rose headed out to the first class deck to get some air. She was overwhelmed… she wasn't happy being onboard this grand ship. Most people were thrilled being on this ship, but she saw it as a ship taking her home in chains. As soon as she returned home, she would be marrying a man she knew she did not love. She was wishing she wasn't first class; she did not want to be on this ship… she wished she wasn't returning home!

Rose stared off into the distance and the air was helping to clear her mind. As she stood there, she suddenly felt that someone was staring at her. She looked down towards the third-class deck and could see that a young man was staring at her. She tried not to, but something compelled her to look towards the young man. From this distance, Rose could see that the man was rather handsome and appeared to have a kind face. She locked eyes with the young man for a quick moment, when she felt a hard yank on her arm.

Rose turned to find a rather upset Cal at her side. Cal said, "Well, I hope you're happy. You managed to insult one of the most important people on this voyage."

Rose gave an angry look and said, "Oh, just leave me alone Cal!" She quickly stormed off from the deck, leaving her fiancé rather angry and frustrated.

Rose left with her thoughts clouded in anger again. Even her thoughts of the young man who she had locked eyes with were gone. Rose had no idea that she would later meet the young man later that night. Nor did she realize she had just glanced at the man who would save her and become the love of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack Dawson and his best friend, Fabrizio Di Rossi, were out on the third-class deck enjoying the day.

Jack was busy drawing a father and daughter, Burt and Cora Cartmell, who were enjoying the day as well. Burt was holding little Cora, and was trying to explain the propellers to the little girl. Jack's drawing was a perfect image of the two; a loving father and daughter sharing a happy moment.

Fabrizio, on the other hand, decided to make small talk with a fellow third-class passenger standing nearby. Fabrizio turned to the young man, who appeared to be Irish, and said, "The ship is nice, eh?"

The man said with pride, in a booming Irish accent, "Yeah, it's an Irish ship." Fabrizio looked in confusion and said, "Is English, no?" The man replied, "No, it was built in Ireland. 15,000 Irishmen built this ship. Solid as a rock. Big Irish hands."

Whatever else the man was going to say was interrupted by seeing a steward walk the first class dogs past them. The man scoffed as he took a drag of his cigarette and said, "That's typical…first class dogs come up here to take a shite."

Jack turned with an amused expression on his face. Jack replied, "Lets us know where we rank in the scheme of things."

Tommy grinned, let out a sarcastic chuckle and said, "Like we could forget?" Jack laughed, while the man leaned over to shake his new friend's hand and replied, "I'm Tommy Ryan." Jack returned the handshake and replied, "Jack Dawson." Fabrizio smiled and replied, "Fabrizio" as Tommy turned to shake his hand as well.

Tommy took another drag of his cigarette when he saw Jack's portfolio in his lap and asked, "Do you make any money with your drawings?" But the young artist did not reply.

Jack had every intention of answering Tommy, but he had gazed up to the upper deck to see the most breathtaking woman he had ever seen.

She appeared to be a couple of years younger than him; she was obviously first class. She was wearing a light lime-colored dress, and had the most beautiful red hair he had ever seen. She seemed sad though; like she wished she was anywhere else but here.

Tommy decided to follow Jack's sight line and also saw the beautiful girl. Tommy could tell that Jack was smitten with the lovely redhead and said, "Aww, forget it boyo. You'd as like have angels fly out of your arse as to get next to the likes of her."

Fabrizio waved a hand in front of Jack, trying to get his attention, and laughed when he failed. Jack kept his eyes on the woman. She had turned and they locked eyes for a moment. Suddenly a dark haired man approached her…she looked upset as the man had grabbed her arm. She quickly walked away leaving the other man alone and frustrated.

Jack saw the anger flash on the woman's face and hoped she was okay. He didn't like seeing anyone looking so upset. She appeared to have a fiery spirit, but she seemed so lonely. Maybe all she needed was a friend, but he quickly dismissed that from his thoughts. She was high society and there was no way a girl like that would even look at him, a lowly third-class artist. The gentleman that appeared out of nowhere was most likely her brother or significant other. Still she had seen him and kept eye contact with him until she was interrupted. Jack decided to get back to his visit with Tommy and Fabrizio; hoping he could get the beautiful redhead out of his mind. Jack had no clue that he had just laid eyes on the woman who would become the love of his life.

 _ **School and writer's block haven't been helping me with my other story Forever. So I decided to write this scene from the movie...it is one of my favorites and hopefully this may help my writer's block.**_


End file.
